Stopping Time
by Angelbride1234
Summary: takes place during chunnin exams, in the month between the first and final rounds. Sakura and Hinata, both greatly depressed by their losses during the first round, are approached by a shadowy figure. What could Danzo possibly want? Rating might change.
1. Chapter 1

Okay guys, I'm on a major mind block on my other story right now, so I thought the best way to get around it was to try and get a new story going. I hope you enjoy it. Also, any kind of ideas for my other story would be greatly appreciated.

Summary- takes place during exams. Sakura and Hinata, both greatly depressed by their losses during the first round, are approached by a shadowy figure. What could Danzo possibly want?

Do I own it? Please, if I did, Sakura would kick ass! Also, anything I take from other anime, and trust me, you will recognize them, do not belong to me.

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_' If you get put up against Neji, forfeit.'_

_'You don't make a good shinobi, forfeit now.'_

I stood on the bridge, watching the reflection of the clouds go by, cruising on their paths. Never told that they don't form a good shadow, or they can never become a rain shower. Truly, an easy life, a cloud.

"Hinata" A familiar voice called to me. A smile played across my features, I turned my head slowly. A bruised, scraped pinkiet girl stood next to me, looking up at the sky.

"You know, if you want to watch the clouds, the best way is to look strait up at them, not at their reflections." She lectured, her eyes never leaving the sky. I stared at my friend. Her eyes had a light glaze, as if she were remembering something. Remembering something, happy, sad, fun, even annoying, I never could quite tell what was going through her head when she went into that state.

"Hey, Hinata, do you ever feel that… if you weren't there… your teammates may already be chunnin?" She inquired. Yes, I did. I always felt like that. I guess that we had more in common than I thought.

"Sometimes." I whispered. "I guess, since your asking, you do, too."

She sighed deeply. "Always." She whispered, holding tears back. "Always."

"What if I could change that?" an elderly voice called. I whipped my head around; my short bangs hitting my face. There, standing there across the bridge was Danzo, the leader of ROOT. Most of his face was covered in a bandage, along with his arm, and he walked with a cane.

"You can?" Sakura stared, concentrating on everything the elderly man had to say.

"And ROOT can do so much more for you." He spoke like a market salesman, desperate to try and sell you his product in order to keep food on the table.

"Wait" I said, no longer in my normal whisper, but that of a commanding officer, a shinobi. "Who are you?"

He chuckled softly." My dear child, my name is Danzo." He said. "And root is…"

"I know what ROOT is. And I also know about what you do, and it's not exactly the prettiest picture of a person if you're going to trust them. " I snapped. I never knew I could be this mean. It was really quite fun.

"Power" whispered Sakura from behind me. "I need power." What was she talking about? Does she really think this is the way to get power? She has no idea what this man has or will do.

"Sakura, listen to me." I commanded.

"No, YOU listen to ME!" she said. I could feel my mouth drop and my eyes widen. She went around me, then went over to stand next to Danzo.

"Saku-" "Hinata. Unlike you, I don't have any family besides my mother and little sister, and my mothers very ill, she can't work, and my sister is paralyzed and blind. (1) I have to sustain my family, and the way to do that is to go up in the ranks" She turned to Danzo. "And if you can help me do that, I'll do whatever you want me to."

He chuckled again. "Yes, child, I can make you ANBU in a matter of months." Sakuras eyes widened. "ANBU? Really?" Danzos one eye tuned on me. "And you can both IMPROVE you byakugan and your skills in a matter of weeks." If my eyes could get wider, they did.

"Improve? Is that possible?" I whispered, my resolve gone.

"Yes child. Interested?" Salesman again.

I looked down, defeated. "Okay, what do you want us to do?" I questioned.

He smiled, he had just sold us. "Come with me." He turned around and slowly walked the opposite direction. Sakura followed immediately, and reluctantly, I stepped after him as well. He led us all the way to the wall that surrounded our village. Using his cane, he tapped on the wall five times. With a soft 'clink' the wall opened, and we stepped inside. There was a minimally lit hallway so small, we had to walk in single file. For about ten minutes we walked downward, then suddenly, the walkway opened wider, and I stepped faster, standing side- by- side with Sakura.

"Sakura, I'm sorry, I had no idea about your family." I said. I was truly sorry, I had been good friends with her for some good amount of time, but I still had no idea what was happening with her life.

She turned her head towards me, a kind smile on her face. "Its fine, Hinata." She placed her hand on my shoulder. "We're in this together now." I nodded my head in response. We didn't speak again for the rest of our decent. Another ten minutes passed, and suddenly a horrible odor came over my senses. The tiny hallway widened out into a large, circular room. On the opposite side was an upper level viewing deck, much like the one in the arena where I battled Neji, and Naruto watched me be defeated. Danzo stopped and turned towards us.

"I will take you under as my students under one condition."

"Hey, wait, you're the one who asked us!" Screamed Sakura. Danzo waved his hand in dismissal.

"Oh, don't worry child. Its not a very hard condition to keep." He spoke in that salesman voice again. Suddenly he dropped his hand, a serious mood dropping over us. "You only have to…survive." Then he was gone. Survive? What did that mean? A loud clang rang out from behind me. I turned. The door we had come in through was closed, and a larger door under the upper level had opened. Inside stood the insane smiles and murderous eyes of a thousand shinobi.

"So, lets see if you can survive" Danzo whispered from the upper deck.

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(1) Okay, you guys can probably tell which show I got THAT from, and if not, its from code geass's Nunnally (I think that's how you spell it. O_O?)


	2. Chapter 2

Alright, here goes the second chapter.

Sadly, I don't own This anime, also, I know I made saku kind of like Sasuke.

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"So, lets see if you can survive." Danzo whispered from the upper level.

Hinata

My body began to shake. These men, no, they no longer were human, these human-like creatures. How long had they been down here, deprived of sunlight, good food, and human contact? Months? Years? I looked over to Sakura, was she willing to become like this? Was I? Were we willing to become like theses men in order to gain power?

The definite 'shing' of a blade or knife being drawn rang out. A small gesture was made by one of the beast men, and all of the sudden, a dozen or so knives were quickly heading in my direction. 'Move.' 'MOVE!" I thought. My legs didn't seem to like my brain today. Man, what crappy timing to go on strike. My eyes widened in terror, my spirit still clinging on to the dimming hope that I might be able to live.

The knives drew closer, and I closed my eyes, finally accepting the sad truth. This was the way I was going to go, and that's all there was to it. Naruto, I'm sorry that I never really got the ability to talk to you, to tell you how I felt about you. Kiba, Shino, I'm sorry that you always had to protect me, and Sakura, thank you, for being here with me, in my final moments. A warm feeling blanketed over my frontal area. My eyes shot open in pure shock. The sound of a sharp object being dug into flesh rang out. My eyes caught small glimpses of pink strands, and my shock turned into pure horror. Sakura had jumped in between me and the blades.

Why? Why would anyone do that? For me? ME, the useless, sheltered brat. Tears began to flow from my eyes. No, I won't cry. I refuse to cry. I desperately tried to suck the tears back in, but today just didn't seem to be my day, because the tears kept coming.

"Sakura, why?" I blubbered. She turned her head towards me and smiled, struggling to get up from where she had fallen onto the ground, and slung her arm around my shoulder for support.

"Silly, didn't I tell you and I were together in this? Besides, I'm not dead."

"But that can be changed." whispered a masculine voice. Sakuras eyes widened with surprise and fear. She whipped her head around to be met face to face with what was probably the largest man I ever saw. He was shirtless, not like a shirt of any size could probably fit him anyway. Food couldn't have been an issue, so what had they promised this behemoth? Sakura moved off of me, turning her entire body to face the man. I got a full view of the knives in her back. The person who had throw the knives was deadly accurate, because most of them had been right underneath her left shoulder blade, which was right were my heart was. She had saved me. I was weak enough that I needed saving. Damn. Why? Why was I always so weak? I felt hot water come to my eyes. NO, I WILL NOT CRY! Tears will not come out of my eyes. Never. I took a deep breath, and was able to push the tears back.

An outstretched hand was suddenly in front of my face. Confused, I looked up to see Sakuras smiling face. She held no doubt within herself that she was going to live. How could I just sit here while she was trying so hard to make sure we both survived? I couldn't. Slowly, I willed my legs to move. Unfortunately, they didn't quite want me to, and I simply looked like a baby deer trying to walk for the first time. I tried to use my arms o push myself up, but they were just as weak. My entire body gave way, and finally I just allowed myself to fall back to the ground, squeezing my eyes shut and preparing my body for the impact of the ground. Suddenly I felt a powerful grip on my wrist, and my entire body being pulled upward. I opened my eyes to be met with sakuras emerald sharp gaze.

"Get a hold of yourself, Hinata." She snapped. "If you don't, there's absolutely no way either of us is going to survive."

"There's no chance we're going to survive, anyway" I replied.

Sakuras gaze turned kindly, and her scowl turned into a soft smile. "Well, there's still Hope." She whispered. I stared at her. Hope. I had hoped that I could become next in line for the head of my family. I had hoped that I could get along with my cousin. I had hoped to be able to live to see another sun rise! Even so, I smiled back.

"Bwahahah" cried a masculine voice. My eyes turned from Sakuras face to the madman behind her, along with the multiple equally- as- mad faces behind him. My breath hitched, and my eyes scanned over the horrifying scene. While I had been crying my eyes out, the men had taken the time to surround us. These men weren't just men that had been rounded together to fight us, they were an army.

And they were going to kill us.

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Okay guys. Im sorry that it had taken me sooooooo long to update, there have been a lot of things going on right now. So, please favorite and comment. Its what keeps me going :)


	3. Chapter 3

Don't own this anime(s)

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These men weren't just men that had been rounded together to fight us, they were an army.

And they were going to kill us.

Turning on my byakugan, I scanned my surroundings. Men surrounded us in a three rows placement, sealing us in a circle. Fear came flooding over me like a wave, and there was no stopping the tears this time. They ran down my face like a faucet that had been turned full blast. With shaky hands, I reached into my pouch around my leg and pulled out a kunai and prepared myself for an inevitable attack. A loud screech was echoed from my left. Spinning my head around, I caught a glimpse of a man sprinting toward me.

"Nobi no Jutsu!" a feminine voice whispered. Suddenly the man, and about a dozen behind him caught on fire. The war cry quickly changed to an agonizing yell. Sakura dropped to her knees. A small gasp erupted from my mouth, and I crouched down to the ground next to her. I pulled her head to look at me. A tsunami of terror hit me. Sakura was so pale, paler than I had ever seen her.

"Sakura, your so pale" I whispered. A warm hand was placed on top of my shoulder. I turned my head, revealing my shameful tearstained face. An angle-faced girl was suddenly there, merely a foot or so distance from my face wearing a white kimono with a dark blue obi. My breath hitched in my throat. Long, blond locks of hair, beautiful blue eyes that most likely many men had lost themselves in, and a faint smell of fresh spring water lilies, truly a beauty, someone I could never be. A kindly smile graced her face, blinding me with her beautifully strait teeth, this only adding to the large gap that distanced her beauty from myself.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine." She whispered in a soothingly sweet voice. I could feel all of my past fears cower away from her ever-sparkling shine. Suddenly, with a large t_hunk_, a large object that appeared to be a sword case hit her on the head, and caused one of her blond hairs to fall out of place. The glassy trance she had put me in shattered into a million little shards. Now a dark era surrounded the blond beauty, a blood crazy feeling radiated off of her. Suddenly, she stood up her bangs covering her blue orbs. Turning on her heel she faced the large group, her back facing us. I heard her take a deep breath.

"Okay, everybody" She announced. No one paid any mind to her, continuing to deal with the matter of putting out the fires that plagued their friends and their own bodies. The beautiful girl placed her hand on the ground, and with a beautifully snake-like voice, she whispered: " kōri no kangoku no jutsu" Suddenly, all of the men, even those who had caught on fire, were sealed within their own, personal ice block. The flames glistened in the ice, forever standing in that everlasting flame pattern.

Suddenly, the weight of sakuras body was removed from my lap. Out of habit, I reached my hands in the position to turn on my genkai, but imidiately dropped my hands upon turning my head. Before me stood what was probably the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, even more beautiful than the blond woman before. Tall, wearing a tunic with fishnet tights that hugged her legs, black shorts that went down to the mid-thigh, and ankle length black boots. Her thick, silky black hair was put up in a high ponytail. A smirk snuck up upon her face, turning her lips up in a twisted fashion.

"Nice work, Lucile." She called in a maturely feminine voice. The blond woman, Lucile swung her head around, towards the other girl.

"Damn it, Amelia! I had it under control!" She blew her cheeks up with air. (2)

Amelia rolled her eyes. "Real~ly? So, letting your temper get the best of you, again, is 'under control' now? Wow, the standard has really gone down a bit." She cooed. Lucile crossed her arms and turned her head away in embarrassment.

"Who are you?" Rasped Sakura, who had regained consciousness.

Lucile smiled and sat down on the ground next to her, allowing for eye-to-eye level. "Hello, my name is Lucile. I'm surprised you were able to regain consciousness in such a short amount of time." She flashed her pearly white smile. "But I'm so glad you did." Suddenly, Lucile was grabbed by the hair and dragged back up to a standing position. She squirmed her body left and right, and swung her head around, as if she were a large beast, desperately trying to get out of a trap, but failing, for the trap was set by a masterful hunter. The hunter in question was Amelia, who had a firm grip on Luciles long, golden locks. She put her chin on Luciles' shoulder, and looked down at sakura.

" Remarkable. With those injuries, you shouldn't even be conscious for more than a few seconds, but you seem to be able to stand it. How much longer do you think you have?"

It was then that I realized that Sakuras eyes had started to glaze over, most likely from pain. Her eyelids faltered, only for a second, but long enough.

"Not very long."

Amelia sighed. "Lucile…"

"I'd… get on it…if"

" if what?"

"If you would let go of my hair!"

"Oh…" She dropped her hair, allowing it to fall once and walked backwards, away from Sakura. Suddenly, she reached out to me and grabbed my hood. My body was pulled backwards, away from Sakura. I reached out towards my friend, as if I could reach out and touch her, make all of her injuries go away. Then we could leave, go home, back up to our friends, and forget this ever happened. I retched my body forward, towards my friend, desperately grabbing at the air.

"SAKURA!! SAKURA!!" I called. Suddenly, I felt a pressure on the back of my neck and then my vision went black.

That's when I knew there was no going back to how it used to be.

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Thanks for being patient with me, guys.

review and comment


	4. Chapter 4

Don't own anime.

My headache is what hit me first.

My hearing was next. It started with every sound, every movement made of those next to me, was as earth shattering as a tremor. After a few moments, the pain subsided, and I was able to scan my surroundings. I was in a small room, lying on a single bed next to the wall. The door was to my left, across was an empty desk, with a small lamp and a makeshift chair, and to my right was a small dresser, overall, it was a makeshift room that looked as if it were put together without any thought. On Slowly, I started to gain the feeling down my body. I experimented moving small body parts. It started with my fingers, then to my arms, and soon I was able to move my entire body. I slung my legs over the side of the bed, which moaned loudly at my movements.

"Ahh… your awake!' spoke a cheerful voice. I turned and smiled at Lucile, who sat calmly on the desk, her legs falling off the side and her feet resting on the chair. Suddenly, a thought ran across my head.

"Sakura! Where's Sakura?" I stood up, and began to look around frantically. Suddenly Lucile was in front of me, gripping my arm, not painfully, but firmly.

"She's fine. Put some clothes on, and I'll take you to her." It was then that I suddenly realized that I was totally necked, save for a pair of underwear. An intense blush flamed up into my face. I covered my chest and squeezed my legs together, how had let someone see me in such a vulnerable state? How had I not noticed it? Was my cousin right? Do I not make a good shinobi? A soft fabric yukata was placed next to me, pressed and folded. Lucile placed her hand on my head and rustled my hair, laughing all the while. I looked at her in a puzzled way. She took my hand in hers, and effortlessly lifted me up to my feet. Flipping through the pile of fabric on the bed and pulled out a loose pair of white pants and white cami. She handed them to me and I quickly slipped them on. They were soft, satin, possibly. Lucile took the thickest piece of fabric and lifted it up to eye level to examine it, and shook it briskly up and down, barely moving her arms. It was a robe, white as a soul of someone who has not seen the battlefield, with a dark blue stripe running down the edges of the cloth and sleeves. She gracefully walked behind me, and draped the cloth over my body. I slipped my arms through the large sleeves, and folded it close over my torso; such as I had been trained to do. She wrapped the Himo(1) around my waist twice before tying it off in the front. She then wrapped the much thicker, deep blue obi around over the himo. Twice around, then tie it off in the front, and move the tie to the back. With one movement she took my hand in hers and led me out the door.

We walked down a long corridor, before coming to a large wooden door. Lucile knocked in an unknown pattern, turned her gaze back at me, and smiled. The door clicked and was opened for us. A pink tuff of hair appeared in the doorway, attached to a young, feminine face, blistered and bloodied, and covered with white cloth. A small smile crept up onto said face, and lit its green eyes up slightly. She opened the door wider, and Lucile, without even looking at the girl, walked strait into the room and sat down into a chair on the opposite side of the room. Her attitude changed suddenly back to serious.

"Lets talk about what's going to happen now" Her voice was commanding, none of the kindness that she had shown me left.

"Yes. Lets." Out of a dark corner, Amelia appeared, clad in a black tube bra, biker shorts, and deep colored gata(2) and wrapping on almost every other inch of her body, excluding her face and neck, her hair fell down her back in a waterfall. Her dark eyes switched from sakura to myself and back again, before releasing a heavy sigh. "From the moment that you stepped down those stairs with Danzo- Sama, you sold yourself to ROOT. Now, you will be assigned a teacher, who will teach you all they know, and finally, you will become a member of root. Nothing more." She stated bluntly. Lucile let out a deafening laugh. Amelia shot a death glare her way, and, just for a second, I almost saw them change to a deep red, before returning to black. Lucile jumped off her seat and suddenly, a blue flame appeared where Lucile used to be. She waved her hands in a defeated way, and made a face. 

"I-I'm sorry, Amelia! You just put it so bluntly, it was hilarious!" She suddenly hugged Amelia, wrapping her arms around the girls' neck. Amelia's face spontaneously went from anger to a momentary surprise, then to amusement. Sakura chuckled at the scene from beside me. I, myself, couldn't even keep from smiling. Maybe, with these guys here, this place wouldn't be so bad.

Amelia and Lucile led us down a hall, brick and badly lit with identical deep colored wood doors on either side. There was an intersection that broke the never-ending repetitiveness of the scenery. I glanced down the hallway closest to me, and was disappointed by the sight of an identical hallway, with the same deep wooded doors, that continued on and on, endlessly, before disappearing from sight. Lucile, who was walking in front of me, stopped suddenly, causing me to almost run right into her. In front of us was a large door, made out of the same wood the others were made of, except this one was much larger, and it seemed to have wonderful designs carved into it. Amelia knocked quietly in a secret pattern. The door clicked open, and Amelia pushed effortlessly on it. Inside, lanterns were lit, slightly lighting a large empty room. A fighting arena. It was only half the size of the one from the preliminary rounds, but it was still a pretty large area, nonetheless. There were benches on the far side, and most likely on the wall closest to the door as well, besides that and a tall wooden block in the far side of the arena, no furniture to speak of. Amelia swung around to face us. She gestured towards one of the benches on the sidelines of the arena.

"Sit" Not a question, no debate. As commanded, we crossed to width of the room and sat on the wooden bench. Amelia stood before us, Lucile standing to the side, ready to assist if necessary.

"Okay." Amelia took out a kunai knife and cut one of the cloth wraps that surrounded her body. The cloth unwound itself, and soon all the cloth was lying on the ground. I let out a small gasp, for Amelia's body was covered in markings. Deep red and glimmering in the flame light of the room, almost as if they were fire. "Beautiful, aren't they?" Speechlessness must have translated to her our responses. She caressed her arms, which were covered in them. "But extremely rare technique, and…" She stopped. Biting her lip, she mulled over her next words. "Well, why don't I just show you?" She turned her arm towards the open space of the room. "Mastígio" One of the tattoos began to radiate an eerie red glow, as if it were burning. Suddenly, from within her hand, a red orb appeared, smoldering with a dark red and yellow color. As small as a marble, but quickly growing, eventually becoming as big as her palm and extended a limb outward. It continued to until it reached about four feet, and it then stopped. Amelia wrapped her fingers around the objet and pulled it toward her body. The red disappeared, leaving it a dull black color. This was either a genjutsu or my eyes were deceiving me today, because the small lava ball had turned into whip.

"These marks are called kalesei, they serve the same purpose as say, a scroll, except theirs no blood seal requirement, they aren't needing of a bag to be carried in, and…" She swung her arm holding the whip around behind her, towards the wooden block. The whip suddenly came alive and lengthened itself, its intended target being the unfortunate log on the opposite side of the room. Reaching its target, it plunged itself into the poor furnishings innards, which screamed in protest from leaving the logs hard form. " The objects you get out of them are a thousand times stronger." Sakura stared in aw at the amazing display, but myself? I was a little skeptical about them. No way in hell could something like this be possible without a catch.

"So, what's the catch?" I quizzed. Both Lucile's and Amelia's eyes went from serious to anxious. She fidgeted with her whips handle and averted her eyes from mine. Finally, she sighed deeply and began.

"We'll, of course it's not the perfect technique, and there is a catch, if you would call it that." Again, she fidgeted with her whip. "The training. 90% of people who try to master the technique die in it, from one thing or another." So that was it. Seemed reasonable enough. I turned and looked at Sakura. Her eyes burned bright with the same intensity that she had shown with her latest battle with Ino. She was ready to go, and so was I.

"So" The eyes of the two women stared at me now, nervousness and anxiousness evident. "When do we start?" And that was that. We had plunged head first into a situation that could either make us incredibly strong or kill us. Either way, no going back.

Wow guys, Been a long time!

(1) Okay, a Himo is a thin piece of fabric used to hold up a kimono or a yukata.


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